Toxic Wastes

Twenty-eight years after the lethal gas leak at Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, the 350 tonnes of toxic waste lying at the defunct factory is likely to be airlifted to Germany for safe disposal. The disposal process, however, will start only after India’s Hazardous Waste (Management, Handling and Transboundary Movement) Rules of 2008, which forbid export and import of hazardous waste, are amended.Read more

The Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court banned the entry of 346 MT of toxic waste from the Union Carbide factory site, for incineration, in to the state. The incineration was to be carried out at the DRDO (Defence Research and Development Organization) facility in Nagpur. The order was issued on July 21. The ban has been extended till July 28, when the hearing is scheduled before the Jabalpur bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court.Read more

The Jabalpur Bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court, on July 28, ordered the Madhya Pradesh Pollution Control Board (MPPCB) to not allow any movement of toxic waste from Bhopal's Union Carbide site to the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) incineration facility at Butibori near Nagpur. The movement has been stayed till the next hearing which is scheduled for August 11. The court also directed the pollution control boards of both the states to inspect the defunct plant site in Bhopal.

Days after President Barack Obama lashed out at British Petroleum (BP) saying he would not let them ‘nickel and dime’ his people in the oil spill case, a sessions court in Bhopal did precisely that with the victims of the world’s worst industrial disaster. After 25 long years the court of the chief judicial magistrate pronounced its verdict on the criminal case against Union Carbide and its Indian subsidiary on the matter of negligence and liability.